Why it works: Cabbage and cheese work together. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and 90 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the cabbage
Boil chopped cabbage in salted water until tender, then drain.
Make the cheese sauce
In a saucepan, melt butter and stir in flour.
Add milk and season to taste, then mix in grated cheese.
Assemble and bake
In a baking pan, layer cabbage and cheese sauce until full.
Top with bread crumbs and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 15 minutes.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Cabbage + cheesetop 17% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together90 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + breadtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,145 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together81,222 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cheese + breadtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + cheesetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together7,955 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cabbage
- Forms the bulk of the casserole and becomes tender with boiling, giving the dish its body.
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce and carries flavour as the base of the roux.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce when cooked with the melted butter.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce, which sets creamy as it thickens.
- Grated cheese
- Adds savoury flavour and richness, and melts into the sauce.
The step that matters
Make the roux and sauce. Flour must be cooked briefly in the melted butter and milk added gradually so the sauce thickens smoothly without lumps. Stirring as the milk goes in keeps the starch evenly dispersed.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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